Cohousing communities often serve as a center for progressive and inclusive lifestyles.  This is once again demonstrated in the heartwarming story of Susan Galereave and Kiki Zeldes, two mothers who were recently married by a justice of the peace in the Rocky Hill Common House.   Read the story as it appeared in the New York Times here.

Here is a great little video from the World Wildlife Fund on the carbon footprint of a single latte.  It makes you gag a little bit towards the middle… but there is hope!

Rethinking a Latte

The Times reports this morning that a growing number of men and women in their 50s and 60s are opting out of marriage and venturing into old age on their own. The surge has been driven by several factors, including longevity, economics and evolving social mores, according to sociologists.

Read More

If this is the case – cohousing is more relevant than ever.  Providing social support, often physical aid and support into old age – cohousing is a great way for independent adults and elderly folks to maintain their autonomy, while not losing their community…

I know many of you cohousers out there are ardent Christopher Alexander fans.  In my visits to 20-something cohousing communities, at least a quarter mentioned his name or one of his design principles in talking about how their community or common house was designed.  For anyone looking for a quite academic and lofty (one might even say, esoteric) discussion of Alexander, you perhaps might enjoy this piece written by an architecture student wrestling with some of Alexander’s ideas.   Don’t say I didn’t warn you on the esoteric stuff, though!  :)

Here is a link to a really disturbing article on a retirement community in Norfolk Virginia that has banned the truly sick/elderly (anyone in “assisted living” in their community) from their upscale dining room, The River Terrace.  Apparently this is a trend that is somewhat common around the US in the new retirement villages that are gaining in popularity.  Beware what kind of community you move into before you do – and what sort of decisions they may be likely to make in the future regarding the forced segregation of the truly sick or disabled from the healthier part of the community.

NYTimes Article Link

Perhaps yet one more reason why cohousing and it’s inclusiveness is looking more attractive to retiring Baby Boomer’s these days.

Rendering of Mountain View Cohousing, California

A recent article in the Guardian touts  Mountain View Cohousing Community as “an opportunity for a sustainable future”.  The community is located in Mountain View, California, near the home of Google.  Community members have been involved since the beginning, and the project is being built by Berry-Swenson-Builder with conceptual design work done by cohousing leaders, McCamant & Durrett.

From their website:

We are a group of Bay Area residents who are creating a cohousing community at 445 Calderon Avenue in Mountain View, CA. We’ll have a new “old-fashioned” neighborhood of upscale, energy-efficient condominiums and common facilities— homes that we’ve planned and designed ourselves to promote collaboration and community, in a convenient walkable downtown location.

What isn’t as evident on their

homepage, however, is just what “upscale” means:  home prices starting at $775,000 up to $1.2 million.  Sustainability, especially with community and in a nice downtown in California, apparently doesn’t come cheap.

I’ve heard of community service around senior citizens, and providing company to nursing home patients or services to frail seniors living on their own.  This except, however. is from a NYTimes article in the health section on “age appropriate” senior companions, just one of the many ways seniors and baby boomers are finding to continue to have a social network, and to stay in their homes later in life…

On Mondays, Mr. Antsy visits with a woman living in his subsidized senior apartment building; she uses an oxygen tank and rarely goes out, so she appreciates having company.

On Wednesdays, he spends a few hours with a man who has Parkinson’s disease, which provides a break for the man’s caregiving wife. “It gives her time to go out with her sister and get her hair done, have lunch, do some shopping,” Mr. Antsy explained.

No clients on Thursday, but “that’s fine and dandy, to have a day off.” Mr. Antsy, who volunteers about 20 hours a week with the Senior Companions program at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, can use a break himself now and then. He’s 78.

About 13,600 such Senior Companions participants — all older adults themselves — served nearly 61,000 clients last year. The volunteers must be at least 55, but more than 40 percent are, like Mr. Antsy, over 75.

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From Care2.org article on Clean Energy Business Competition

Just heard about this competition … we wanted to get this out to you immediately as the competition deadline is February 29, 2012.

From the Care2.org website:

–begin–
Led by CalTech, a public-private consortium called First Look West (FLoW) is looking for entrepreneurial-minded university students from all disciplines to apply to win $200,000 in prize money by submitting their idea for a clean energy business. The effort is part of Startup America, the Obama Administration’s campaign to inspire and promote entrepreneurship.

Even more important than the prize money, FLoW offers experienced mentors, legal start-up packages and the opportunity to pitch to investors ready to take action and work with student entrepreneurs. Winning teams from six regions across the country also get the chance to participate in the National Competition in Washington D.C., June 2012.

“FLoW will provide students with the lifelong skills needed to start new ventures now or in the future and transform promising energy technologies into innovative energy products that will create jobs, boost American competitiveness, and strengthen the economy,” said Krisztina Holly, Vice Provost for Innovation at USC, as well as a member of the National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

If you’ve been sitting on a great idea for a clean tech company or product, now might be the time to put it down on paper. Finalists will be automatically accepted into the Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy (GTEA), offered by the Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, at UC Davis, June 25 – 27, 2012.

These are once in a lifetime opportunities but you’ve got to act fast: Applications are due by February 28, 2012. Students from California, Alaska, Idaho, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, American Samoa and Guam are invited to enter. Applications can be submitted online at the FLoW website, www.flow.caltech.edu. Experienced business leaders interested in mentoring can sign up there as well.

Read more.

–end–

Related articles

• Competition Offers University Students $200,000 and the Chance to Start a Clean Energy Business (prnewswire.com)
• Global Entrepreneurship Week 2011 Kicks Off in 123 Countries Engaging More Than 10 Million Current and Aspiring Entrepreneurs Worldwide (kauffman.org)
• Funding Our Future (forbes.com)

Have you ever thought about “volunteering” and how de-valued it is in our current system?  We, as a globe, increasingly use money as our only reward system – and the majority of productive acts we do for someone else either earns us money or is considered “volunteering”.  Very few people engage regularly in a system that rewards them in other, perhaps more humane, ways.  There needs to be something, whether social approval or the security of reciprocation that encourages people to give to their community.  Cohousing, I believe, is one system that does value human labor, or better put “human caring”, in a way outside the capitalist monetary system.  I think there are a few reasons why cohousing is effective at this, which I will explore later in a later post, but first: how I started thinking about this.

A couple of months ago I was introduced to the Beacon Hill Village – a not for profit organization based in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston.  The “village” is an organization set up to provide services from within the community to the community.  It heavily supports aging in place, offering human labor for services as varied as driving an elderly neighbor to the doctor or hiring a handyman.  It also checks out and recommends good business in the area, sometimes at a special discount.  It is membership based and not only practical in getting many more services to residents. but also increases the relationships, human contact, and social capital in the neighborhood.

The Beacon Hill Village sparked a series of these villages all around the country – over 60 of them now.  They are linked virtually through the Village-to-Village Network.  These Villages can be seen as variations on Time Banking, and idea that is slightly broader but similar in spirit.  Time banking is a practice of valuing human labor as a currency with the literal idea of putting your “time” spent working in the community into a bank, and taking out someone else’s time later, when you need it.   Some entire cities, such as Ithaca NY, have embraced the idea fully – even offering IthacaHours as a legitimate form of payment in some area businesses.  You volunteer and in exchange get either goods, services, or the security of services later on.  It is such a cool idea!!

Here is a recent article from the New York Times New Old Age Blog on one such network:  A Community Time Bank

I love this idea for several reasons:

• It works within our system rather than against it, which means it can function and even flourish NOW
• It gives value to caring.  It is capitalism in it’s best, softest possible form.
• It supports aging in place
• It increases social capital and relationships in a neighborhood
• It helps freelance, unemployed, or self-employed folks who are good citizens find loyal work
• It keeps money in the community
• It provides human contact, especially to the elderly, that is so important in maintaining mental health

This is the third installment of the Monday Morning Cohousing Facts Series, and today its all about the children!  (Reminder, this information is coming from a study done by the Cohousing Association of the United States, and is accessible in its entirety here.)

Did you know…

• 83% of communities engage either frequently (44%) or occasionally (39%) in carpooling

Annnd another reason cohousing is practical and just simply makes your life… better.

Happy Monday (& rest of the week!)

Posted by: Rebecca Disbrow
Cohousing Collaborative, LLC